The crown prince looked at the unusual girl sitting before him. His first meeting with her had left him with decidedly mixed feelings. She tried to spill filthy chamber pot water on him and even offered to drink it, just so he would spare her master. That spoke of loyalty or madness. Loyalty to her master, madness because she would spill such filth on the Crown Prince. It was like his title meant nothing to her. Yet, in the end, she brought him naksu's sword, the thing he came to collect in the first place. And she managed to tell him to "go to hell" without actually saying it. A Peculiar one to be sure.
He just found out that she would not continue serving her master after his marriage into the Jin Family. He couldn't see why, but he got a thought.
"Should I take you in?" he asked, looking at her for a reaction. He nodded lightly, "I can do that. There must be things you can do here."
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Mudeok pondered this, "No thank you, you may think me to merely be a filthy girl, that everyone avoids. But I don't serve just anyone."
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"Just anyone." he repeated incredulously. "Mu-deok-gee" he punctuated every Syllable of her name and melodically drew it out at the end, "you would be serving the crown prince, I can do anything I set my mind to. You asked for my protection and I gave you my cinnamon satchel. At my side, I could protect you all the time." she looked up at him interested. "Seeing you in this," he gestured to her dress, "I might even stop calling you filthy."
"Oh, your majesty I never dreamed of hearing you say those words." Mu-deok replied cheekily, overplaying her happiness.
Go Won chuckled. "You sure know how to compliment Mu-deok." he gave her a sly look. Setting down his teacup he asked: "So, do you want to live here?" he tried to not sound as hopeful, as he felt inside.
Mudeok looked around the room, slowly. She looked deep in thought. The prince had a point, she realized, in the palace she could get access to relics and members of the royal court. Of course, she did not plan to stay a servant forever, but she also lacked a different precise plan for her near future. And the prince intrigued her in some way. If she could tolerate Jang-Uk, she could tolerate him. At least for a while. "I think so, your majesty." she slowly replied.
